[feat]: Support update notifications and auto updates for new releases

[millerjp]

We need to have the abilty to notifiy users of updates and then update the app when not shipped via app stores

1 - Only perform update checks in this fashion when not an app store dist 2 - Users can be prompted to install the update (unless they disable this - see below) 3 - There must be a system setting to "auto update" where the app is automatically updated with no prompts 4- System setting to check to enable/disable the "check for updates" as a system setting and first install option

Note - we could have the prompts for update checks and autoupdate as things to set on first app launch

There are a variety of frameworks to do this with a lot of them working directly with GitHub releases (which we use)

https://www.electronjs.org/docs/latest/tutorial/updates#using-updateelectronjsorg

https://www.perplexity.ai/search/i-am-building-a-desktop-app-in-3BvppQ1KTZyPrIHZNjq6nw

We should also consider self-hosting the release notifications to avoid automatically using Github releases

eg https://github.com/ArekSredzki/electron-release-server

IMPORTANT

This is not possible for app store installations so we should only check for autoupdates when the app is downloaded and installed as when installed via Mac, Windows app stores or Snap/Flatpack on windows, it needs to follow their respective update mechanisms. Therefore, before checking for updates its important to detect the install source and behave accordingly eg

const { app } = require('electron');
const isDev = require('electron-is-dev');

function shouldUseCustomUpdater() {
  // Check if the app is not in development and not installed from an app store or Linux package manager
  const isMacAppStore = process.mas;
  const isWindowsStore = process.windowsStore;
  const isSnap = process.env.SNAP || process.env.SNAP_REVISION;
  const isFlatpak = process.env.FLATPAK_ID;

  return !isDev || !isMacAppStore || !isWindowsStore || !isSnap || !isFlatpak;
}

if (shouldUseCustomUpdater()) {
  const updateElectronApp = require('update-electron-app');
  updateElectronApp();
}

Also - we should have a system settings that enables/disables autoupdates and is only available as an option if not installed via the above app stores.

[millerjp]

I am thinking that the defaults for self-install should be that the app just autoupgrades by default.

When app is launched first time we ask the user - couple of checkboxes one auto-upgrade (were we just download and upgrade) and another notify me when upgrades available with the default selected checkboxes as above.

These options are also available as app system settings to enable/disable later.

If auto upgrade is not enabled: when an upgrade is available on app launch we prompt the user to upgrade (where we upgrade and restart) or do it later to skip.

When an upgrade is available we display some visible upgrade notification in the app when the user is using it they know they are not on latest version.

Obviously, there needs to be a function somewhere for the user to click a button and upgrade the app if/when they decide to do it later.

All of this only when not an app store dist.

@mhmdkrmabd we need to make sure when upgrading we are upgrading to the correct versions i.e internal, beta or proper releases based on the one installed.

[mhmdkrmabd]

@millerjp Checking for updates feature has been tested on all platforms, and this is the final look:

Linux

macOS both archs

Windows

The feature designed to be easy to use; as we can get the changelog and suitable assets - based on the OS and the architecture - to choose from, the update can be dismissed with ability to manual check for updates.

Auto update feature should be postponed to review its feasibility

[digiserg]

@millerjp i don’t think we should auto update. We provide many installation methods and many of them will be tricky to do. For example for Mac the pkg and dmg formats.

I think what @mhmdkrmabd has done of checking for updates and opening the download page is enough.

@mhmdkrmabd if you haven’t done it yet, we should probably filter out any internal releases.

[mhmdkrmabd]

@millerjp i don’t think we should auto update. We provide many installation methods and many of them will be tricky to do. For example for Mac the pkg and dmg formats.

I think what @mhmdkrmabd has done of checking for updates and opening the download page is enough.

@mhmdkrmabd if you haven’t done it yet, we should probably filter out any internal releases.

@digiserg I've studied that and come out with the recommendation I've mentioned, besides the very limited formats the auto-update can support, the feature itself might not be good for most users, however, @millerjp we can discuss that later and see if we're going to support other formats like AppImage for Linux as an example, till then, the updates feature in this form should be is enough

[millerjp]

@mhmdkrmabd @digiserg If autoupdate works, lets enable it but if not or its complex/buggy then we can remove it. We just need something working and notifying users of updates as I expect we will be releasing a few minor builds over the coming months.